The Black Angels

“Telephone”
from the album Phosphene Dream
2010
iTunes

Recorded in Los Angeles, Phosphene Dream (September 14) is the Black Angels’ third full-length offering, and it represents a brand new sound. 2006’s Passover was the band’s debut burner, essentially a collection of bluesy pop songs dressed up and hidden behind massive reverberation and delay, with a dark, vaguely anti-war stance (songs like “The First Vietnamese War”). The Angels’ 2008 sophomore effort, Directions to See a Ghost, was a step further into the murky drone. It was longer, heavier, more complex and an even bigger nod to psych legends The 13th Floor Elevators and Spacemen 3.

While both of these albums were more aligned with the dissonant repetition of early Velvet Underground, 2010 brings more pop and more groove. The blackness, bleakness and evil are still here, but there are the occasionally lighter moments.

Opener “Bad Vibrations” is exactly what it sounds like: a droning, moody and defiant rocker reminiscent of The Doors’ and Jefferson Airplane’s darker moments. “Sunday Afternoon” is pure mid-’60s sunshine glow-pop, but with a menacing offer: “Well come on, over here. It’s alright, over here…” The electric jug completes the picture.

There are too many fantastic songs to mention, but along with “Telephone” (which could have been on the Nuggets compilation), “Yellow Elevator #2” stands out. The track begins with a funky, fuzzy bass that lopes along while maniacal, backwards guitars submerge and resurface. Eventually the song breaks down into a slow, beautiful realization: “Now I can see how the seasons all repeat…”

If you’ve been out of the loop, I recommend checking up on the Angels’ new, somewhat less horrifying, direction.